Headline Blues

Just watching the news here makes Kentaro and I depressed. Every day. I'm not talking about news of the war in Iraq, natural disasters in Bangladesh or people starving in Africa. It's the local news that chills us to the bone because it's literally in our backyard.

I have had the thought a few times of posting on this blog the daily headlines to give others an idea of the kind of stuff that happens here, but then I'd be bringing y'all down too.

Fort Lauderdale and Miami (and the surrounding suburbs) have a combined population equivalent to Greater Sydney, but in a typical week or even month back home there wouldn't be a fraction of the heinous crimes that occur here in one day. Murder, rape, hit-and-run, drive-by shooting, fraud is the typical morning news report of the previous night's events. And the scenes of these crimes are all around us, not making for a fuzzy feeling as I'm eating my breakfast bagel. Oi.

But then you look at the people here and the crimes don't seem as surprising. I used to watch Jerry Springer and wonder if those people were actors, and if not where in the world they could walk around as accepted members of society. Eureka!

In speedy end-of-ad disclaimer voice: Of course these generalised views do not apply to all the people I have encountered here and there are certainly exceptions for example all the lovely people I work with and all friends and family in the States and yes I also realise that South Florida is probably not an accurate representation of the United States as a whole in terms of the moral quality of its citizens and no I am not depressed so don't worry, simply alarmed, befuddled and confounded.